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SBA Small Business Lending Help - Pushed Back; Again!

by
phanio, Contributor

Created: April 18, 2009, 5:36 am

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Read a blog this week from Kelly Spors of the Wall Street Journal - regarding the state of the SBA and the stimulus package money it is using to help spur small business lending.The blog is as follows:

SBA Months Behind In Changes Meant To Spur LendingThere’s some bad news for people hoping President Obama’s plans to spur small-business lending would reap quick results.A Government Accountability Office report released yesterday says the Small Business Administration will be a few months late installing some new regulations meant to revive SBA lending, which has fallen considerably over the past year. Two changes mandated by the $787 billion stimulus plan, including cutting loan fees and raising loan guarantees for borrowers, were enacted in the 15-to-30-day window required by the stimulus. But the agency missed two March deadlines to increase guarantees on secondary market SBA real-estate and equipment loans and to issue regulations involving “systemically important” broker-dealers in the secondary market.SBA officials, including new administrator Karen Mills, told the GAO they hoped to have those regulations issued by June. Enacting such rules was too complicated to complete in the short period the stimulus plan required and need to be executed in a way as to not create taxpayer losses, they said.The delays could mean it takes longer for the Treasury Department to execute its plan to spend up to $15 billion buying up SBA loans on the secondary market, according to an article in the Dallas Morning News.But the GAO report wasn’t all bad news. Despite the delay, Ms. Mills told the GAO that SBA loan volume is up 20% since mid-March. What’s more, a Dow Jones Newswires article about the GAO report said it’s unclear how much SBA’s actions would affect SBA lending volumes and secondary market anyway, as the Treasury’s plan to buy up loans on the secondary market could help stimulate lending the most.Hopefully June – Hopefully!Just remember this in your own business – the goal is to under-promise and over-deliver – not the other way around.There is still hope until this package finally comes into play – businessmoneytoday.com